TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/091189/09118900.050

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 6KB | 99 lines

NATION, Page 23

Blandishments and Bombs

As U.S. aid begins to arrive, Colombia's battle with the cocaine

cartel intensifies


    The letter in the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo oozed concern,
urging Colombian President Virgilio Barco Vargas to back away from
his country's declaration of war against the cocaine cartel. "Let
there be dialogue, let there be peace," the writer pleaded. In
exchange for government amnesty for his three sons, he offered to
end his family's role in future cocaine trafficking. "Let us not
be arrogant or stubborn," the writer said. "We are all brothers."

    The author was Fabio Ochoa Restrepo, 65, a corpulent Medellin
horse breeder whose sons, Jorge Luis, Fabio Jr. and Juan David, are
near the top of the "Dirty Dozen" list of Colombian drug
traffickers most wanted by the U.S. Government. The elder Ochoa is
described by authorities as the founder and paterfamilias of the
Medellin cocaine cartel.

    Ochoa's unctuous appeal marked a new turn in Colombia's battle
to the death with the drug barons. With the first dollops of $65
million in U.S. emergency assistance to the Bogota government due
in Colombia this week, the cocaine cartel fought back with a
mixture of violence and blandishments aimed at dividing its foes.
The most chilling incident came Saturday, when a huge car bomb
exploded outside the plant of the Bogota newspaper El Espectador,
killing at least one, injuring 80, and destroying half the
building. El Espectador has long been a crusader against the drug
traffickers. In 1986 its editor, Guillermo Cano, was machine-gunned
to death by the cartel's hitmen.

    The newspaper bombing climaxed a barrage of violence aimed at
government targets that the drug lords unleashed last week. At
least 17 bombs went off in Medellin, destroying a paint factory and
damaging eleven government-owned banks and five liquor stores.

    The government countered with a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew in
Medellin. Colombian authorities had already arrested 11,000 people
and seized more than 600 pieces of cartel-owned real estate; last
week they raided 100 additional properties and swept up 1,000 more
suspects. Despite the dragnet, all the Dirty Dozen, including
cartel leaders Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jose Gonzalo ("El Mexicano")
Rodriguez Gacha, and the three Ochoa brothers, remained at large.

    The government, however, was making some important gains. Two
weeks ago, the Colombian army descended on an opulent ranch
maintained by Gacha north of Bogota. The raid netted his son Fredy
and a trove of of documents. Last week the paper trail led soldiers
to a nondescript office building in the capital. In a suite labeled
Commercial Coordinators, Ltd., they uncovered the computerized
nerve center of Rodriguez Gacha's intricate multibillion-dollar
financial operation, which included 65 shell companies designed to
hide drug profits.

    U.S. officials believe an earlier government victory might have
sparked the latest escalation in the drug war. On Aug. 9 the
national police raided a jungle cocaine lab and found 1,200 kilos
of cocaine and 500,000 gal. of chemicals, primarily ether, used to
refine the drug. The chemical haul was enough to produce about 125
metric tons of cocaine, some 25% of the cartel's 1988 production.
One week later, the cartel retaliated by murdering a Medellin
police chief, a judge and Colombian presidential candidate Senator
Luis Carlos Galan.

    The big question remains whether any of Colombia's successes
will lead to crippling arrests or to what the drug lords appear to
fear most: extradition to the U.S. The Extraditables, as the
Medellin branch of the Dirty Dozen call themselves, seem willing
to do anything to prevent that possibility, which President Barco
revived by emergency decree after Galan's death. Last week, as
Justice Minister Monica de Greiff met in Washington with Bush
Administration officials, one of Colombia's highest priorities was
funding for a vast steel-reinforced bunker courtroom to protect
judges and their employees, many of whom have been terrified into
inaction.

    De Greiff, 32, is a target herself. She advanced her Washington
journey after a car bomb was found outside her home. Earlier she
had received a call that warned, "You are definitely our next
victim." Last week the young minister denied reports that she would
resign and seek asylum in the U.S. "The law is under siege in
Colombia," she said. "We must protect it in every way we can."

    The true test of that protection could begin this week, when
the Medellin cartel's financial wizard, Eduardo Martinez Romero,
is scheduled to be shipped from Bogota to Atlanta. He is wanted in
the U.S. in connection with a scheme to launder $1.2 billion in
Colombian cocaine proceeds through a series of banks. Martinez is
appealing his extradition, and there is a chance Colombian courts
will concur. One possible ground: there is no law against money
laundering in C in Colombia. Two weeks ago, the cartel threatened
to kill ten Colombian judges for every accused trafficker
extradited.

    Already, a few voices were being raised in Colombia in support
of Ochoa's suggested dialogue. But Barco's aides say he is still
determined to press ahead. "The President is committed to using all
his resources to drive these people out of Colombian territory,"
said presidential press secretary Gabriel Gutierrez. But are those
resources adequate?